A lifer expat mummy in Kuwait blogging on things to do in Kuwait for kids and adults, places to visit, fun and cultural events, general info, shopping bargains and interesting stuff. Email: LWDLIK@gmail.com

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Monday, June 28, 2010

Highest Paid Footballers in the World

Credit Crunch? Recession? Pah! Those words mean nothing to the guys that pay top player’s wages!

Always an interesting piece of discussion is who are the highest earning players in the world – a subject closely tied with football boots thanks to megabucks sponsorship deals – we knew as soon as the latest players ‘rich list’ hit our desks, we’d have to share it with you guys!

10. Samuel Eto’o (Internazionale, Cameroon) €13.8m/£12.3m.
Anyone who’s been watching Puma Football adverts recently know that the Inter marksman is a valuable asset for them, endorsing the v1.10 speed football boot and a central figure in all the company’s football based promotions, Puma likely pay top dollar to retain his services.

9. Frank Lampard (Chelsea, England) €14.2/£12.6m.
Frank ‘Super Goals’ Lampard also makes it into the top 10 for the first time.
After John Terry’s media circus, Lampard has become the sole marketable English face of Chelsea football club, and has seen new deals from the likes of EA sports (Appearing on the cover of FIFA 10) as well as increasing his value to Chelsea and adidas.

8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona, Sweden) €14.5m/£12.9.
The big Swede with the Big ego has stolen a place in the top 10. Mostly thanks to his huge €9.5m yearly salary, the skillful marksman has been a model posterboy for Nike for a few seasons – wearing the Mercurial Vapor range.
Interesting fact – he also has the name ‘Zlatan’ trademarked, on the basis that it will most likely be perceived as Zlatan Ibrahimovic! Bonkers!

7. Carlos Tevez (Manchester City, Argentina) €15.4m/£13.7m.
A surprising entry at number 7 is Man City’s Carlos Tevez. The subject of several protracted transfer saga’s seem to have put the Argentine in a very favourable position, commanding a considerable wage indeed. Also, Nike have Tevez as the leading figure for their Tiempo Legend line.

6. Ronaldinho (AC Milan, Brazil) €17.2m/£15.3m.
Former highest earner in the World Ronaldino can take solace in the fact he’s surprisingly earning roughly the same as he was in 2008 – it’s just everyone else around him has started to earn more!
Ronaldinho is still a big draw, and thanks to his resurgence at AC Milan, here’s hoping he’s still among the cream of the crop for a couple more years, at least!

5. Thierry Henry (Barcelona, France) €18m/£16m
Henry has crafted a very marketable persona for himself, France’s all-time highest goalscorer has deals with Gilette and is the most marketable face Reebok have in their roster .
Whilst he maintains wearing the SprintFit boots, Reebok are also considering bringing out a range of ultra-light gloves for Henry to wear during the summer’s tournament – for enhanced grip and control on the ball!

4. Kaka (Real Madrid, Brazil) €18.8m/£16.8m
Kaka was the subject of a high-spending Manchester City bid, who were reportedly ready to offer the Brazilian £500,000 a week wages – which would have made him the runaway leader of this chart – settled for a more humble 4th spot in the chart.
As the face of the adiPure III and a modeling contract with Armani, Kaka also knows how to bolster his wage with his good looks!

3. Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Por) €30m/£26.8m
The Most Expensive Player in the World is surprisingly not the highest earning! ‘CR9′ earns a reported €13m wage from Real Madrid, with a €1 billion buyout clause (that’s right. Billion.).
Ronaldo’s now famous physique has also seen him offered ludicrous ‘Spokes-person’ contracts from Pepe Jeans & Emporio Armani, as well as his mind-blowing deal with Nike to keep promoting the Mercurial Vapor range.

2. David Beckham (LA Galaxy, Eng) €30.4m/£27.2m
Beckham is the only player in the world to retain the exact same position in the list. Sticking at number 2, Beckham has retained his value as a figurehead and marketable player.
Through his often discussed LA Galaxy wage, Beckham earns an astronomical figure and deals with adidas (and his own line of Predator_X boots) David Beckham soccer academies and Beckham fragrances subsidise this figure. Though, Pepsi recently announced they would be ending their association with Becks, so maybe he’ll have to make that money back selling the design for his next tattoo to Coke!

1. Leo Messi (Barcelona, Argentina) €33m/£29.5m
An unbelievable straight-shot into number one is Messi! The young Argentine is in utterly sensational form as of late – and as such has quietly become one of the most marketable figures on the planet.
Barcelona give the starlet a €10m basic salary, €4m in bonuses. The 22 year old adds to that with from personal sponsors including adidas with his own personal adiZero, Pepsi, Gillette, Gatorade, Konami, Air Europa, Telefonica/Movistar, SportCenter/ESPN, Damm, Danone, Lody For Men, Storkman, Repsol YPF, SanDisk and Mirage/Seiko! Unbelievable!
(Just to save you all the trouble of Google-ing it: Storkman is some sort of smart/casual menswear range)

Messi magic.

For comparison – here’s the same list from 2 years ago, the amounts of money involved is so radically changed, it’s untrue!

LWDLIK- Which I think, husband dear, proves my point that the English players (4 in last year's list) are spoilt, paid too much, afraid of injury (worried that if they play too hard any future marketing deals will go bye-bye).